Thursday, March 17, 2011

Fighting Doubt

I would have to say that part of the writing process for me is continuously dealing with self doubt. I am always thinking that I am never going to be a good enough writer or that the story is never good enough to share with other people and to a certain point I'm right. Nothing I write is ever going to be perfect. I do hope to continue to grow as a writer as I continue to practice, but I will probably always look back at a manuscript I've written and find mistakes. They will always be there glaring at me, but they will also be there to remind me of how far I've come as a writer over the years.

One thing that does make me feeling better when I start to self doubt is that on different levels we all deal with the fear of not being good enough. My mom is also a writer, but more than that she is an artist and illustrator. She is very talented, but for the most part self taught and worries that she isn't a real artist because she hasn't had traditional art training. You know this thought process is complete garbage when you see her work, but she still battles with self doubt all the time because of this.

I do want to point out that some really talented artist did not receive traditional training just as some of the most financially successful people are high school drops outs. That being said if you asked them most will tell you they had to work really hard to get to where they are and lets just be honest some people are just really lucky. They just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

And just to be clear, so I don't get calls from parents saying I told their child to drop out of school, I am by no means telling you to forget about getting an education. I'm telling you right now you probably aren't that lucky. Get all the education you can and use it teach yourself whatever it is you dream of doing. Do not let the fact that you don't have the means to obtain specific training stop you for getting to where you want to be....

Unless you want to be a surgeon and especially if you want to be my surgeon. If this is the case then I have to insist you obtain the necessary education and training so I can keep living my dreams.